Review Number 9 review of Salford OFI50

Richard Herring: Oh Frig, I'm 50 - The Lowry Theatre, Salford.

When Rob Newman and David Baddiel played Wembley Arena in 1993, one
headline famously asked “Is comedy the new rock and roll?” and one
needed only to look at radio 1’s ‘Fist of Fun’ to find their Brit pop
counterparts. After ‘The Mary Whitehouse Experience’ had successfully
moved to TV, Radio 1 found a new comedy show in ‘Fist of Fun’ as its
successor, and with it, their new comedy double-act rockstars. For a
short while in the mid 1990s, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring were cult
heroes, at once uncomfortable with the lad-culture image they’d been
saddled with (despite their obvious intellect), whilst also relishing in
purile and infantile antics whenever they saw fit. By the end of the
1990s the pair had split and in doing so, their TV careers had all but
ended.

Since then, Richard Herring has worked doggedly on his craft as a
solo act, with 13 stand-up tours under his belt, a prolific podcasting
career, many short lived writing gigs for comedy shows and a successful
stint as a Metro columnist. Yet despite the years, the loyal following
and the successful career, Herring remains as emotionally stunted as
ever. In his latest show “Oh Frig I’m 50” he tackles the stark reality
of a half century and whether or not, when shopping at his age, a ‘bag
for life’ might really be just that. Having married and had two children
in recent years, the audience find Mr Herring at peace with his self
and relishing the minutiae of his domestic life, albeit with the
self-awareness that he is too emotionally stunted to cope with it.

At their peak Stewart Lee and Richard Herring were acerbic
commentators masquerading as university freshers and it is Herring’s
modus operandi to retain the pubescent ramblings and disarming
self-deprecation of that early persona to strike at a number of personal
topics. His routines on his lack of sexual prowess are particularly
enjoyable, and so too is his material about his misguided sexual
fantasies. What marks Richard Herring out as a master of his work is the
high-wire walk he performs when discussing sex. In the hands of lesser
comedians, his subjects, stories and self-confessions would come across
as sexist and laddy (If I recounted material to you here, I’d never be
trusted with any reviews again and would definitely offend), but his
persona is so skilfully constructed to identify his self as the pathetic
one, the failed man-child, that we know exactly where the joke is
aimed. We are safe, and for the entire show, every jaw-dropping
punchline or revelation is to his own detriment, and those innocent
bystanders he has dragged into his sordid mind escape with their dignity
intact.

The shambolic and shabby character on stage fools no one, Richard
Herring is still sharp, intelligent and focused on his craft. There is a
genuine warmth to his delivery and for those of us who have been fans
since the 90s, we can’t help but reciprocate that warmth. You can find
middle-aged comedians discussing how they’re happily married at any
comedy venue, but you might not find Richard Herring’s perverse and
piteous take so readily. This is a sequel to his 2007 show, “Oh F*** I’m
40.” and sets up, what he admits is an optimistic cycle of marking the
decades with new shows with “Oh sh*t I’m 60.” already marked on this
reviewer’s calendar (with similar optimism).